Humanitarian organisations supporting Syrian refugees in Jordan have conducted needs assessments to direct resources appropriately.

To present a model of psychosocial concerns reported by Syrian refugees and a peer review of research practices.

Academic and grey literature databases, the United Nations Syria Regional Response website, key humanitarian organisation websites and Google were searched for needs assessments with Syrian refugees in Jordan between February 2011 and June 2015. Information directly reporting the views of Syrian refugees regarding psychosocial needs was extracted and a qualitative synthesis was conducted.

Respondents reported that psychological distress was exacerbated by both environmental (financial, housing, employment) and psychosocial outcomes (loss of role and social support, inactivity), which are themselves stressors. Need for improvement in research methodology, participatory engagement and ethical reporting was evident.

Participatory engagement strategies might help to address identified psychosocial outcomes. More rigorous qualitative methods are required to ensure accuracy of findings.

In recent years, the Kraepelinian dichotomy has been challenged in light of evidence on shared genetic and environmental factors for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, but empirical efforts to identify a transdiagnostic phenotype of psychosis remain remarkably limited.

To investigate whether schizophrenia spectrum and bipolar disorder lie on a transdiagnostic spectrum with overlapping non-affective and affective psychotic symptoms.

Multidimensional item-response modelling was conducted on symptom ratings of the OPerational CRITeria (OPCRIT) system in 1168 patients with schizophrenia spectrum and bipolar disorder.

A bifactor model with one general, transdiagnostic psychosis dimension underlying affective and non-affective psychotic symptoms and five specific dimensions of positive, negative, disorganised, manic and depressive symptoms provided the best model fit and diagnostic utility for categorical classification.

Our findings provide support for including dimensional approaches into classification systems and a directly measurable clinical phenotype for cross-disorder investigations into shared genetic and environmental factors of psychosis.

Common variants in the Vaccinia-related kinase 2 (VRK2) gene have been associated with schizophrenia, but the relevance of its encoded protein VRK2 in the disorder remains unclear.

To identify potential differences in VRK2 gene expression levels between schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, psychosis not otherwise specified (PNOS) and healthy controls.

VRK2 mRNA level was measured in whole blood in 652 individuals (schizophrenia, n = 201; bipolar disorder, n = 167; PNOS, n = 61; healthy controls, n = 223), and compared across diagnostic categories and subcategories. Additionally, we analysed for association between 1566 VRK2 single nucleotide polymorphisms and mRNA levels.

We found lower VRK2 mRNA levels in schizophrenia compared with healthy controls (P<10–12), bipolar disorder (P<10–12) and PNOS (P = 0.0011), and lower levels in PNOS than in healthy controls (P = 0.0042) and bipolar disorder (P = 0.00026). Expression quantitative trait loci in close proximity to the transcription start site of the short isoforms of the VRK2 gene were identified.

Altered VRK2 gene expression seems specific for schizophrenia and PNOS, which is in accordance with findings from genome-wide association studies. These results suggest that reduced VRK2 mRNA levels are involved in the underlying mechanisms in schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

Bipolar disorder has been associated with cognitive decline, but confirmatory evidence from a community-derived sample of older people is lacking.

To investigate the 13-year risk of dementia and death in older adults with bipolar disorder.

Cohort study of 37 768 men aged 65–85 years. Dementia (primary) and death (secondary), as recorded by electronic record linkage, were the outcomes of interest.

Bipolar disorder was associated with increased adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of dementia (HR = 2.30, 95% CI 1.80–2.94). The risk of dementia was greatest among those with <5 years of history of bipolar disorder or who had had illness onset after 70 years of age. Bipolar disorder was also associated with increased mortality (HR = 1.51, 95% CI 1.28–1.77). Competing risk regression showed that bipolar disorder was associated with increased hazard of death by suicide, accidents, pneumonia or influenza, and diseases of the liver and digestive system.

Bipolar disorder in later life is associated with increased risk of dementia and premature death.

Loneliness is highly prevalent among older people, has serious health consequences and is an important predictor of mortality. Loneliness and depression may unfavourably interact with each other over time but data on this topic are scarce.

To determine whether loneliness is associated with excess mortality after 19 years of follow-up and whether the joint effect with depression confers further excess mortality.

Different aspects of loneliness were measured with the De Jong Gierveld scale and depression with the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale in a cohort of 2878 people aged 55–85 with 19 years of follow-up. Excess mortality hypotheses were tested with Kaplan–Meier and Cox proportional hazard analyses controlling for potential confounders.

At follow-up loneliness and depression were associated with excess mortality in older men and women in bivariate analysis but not in multivariate analysis. In multivariate analysis, severe depression was associated with excess mortality in men who were lonely but not in women.

Loneliness and depression are important predictors of early death in older adults. Severe depression has a strong association with excess mortality in older men who were lonely, indicating a lethal combination in this group.

Parenting style is associated with offspring health, but whether it is associated with offspring mortality at older ages remains unknown.

We examined whether childhood experiences of suboptimal parenting style are associated with increased risk of death at older ages.

Longitudinal cohort study of 1964 community-dwelling adults aged 65–79 years.

The association between parenting style and mortality was inverse and graded. Participants in the poorest parenting style score quartile had increased risk of death (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.72, 95% CI 1.20–2.48) compared with those in the optimal parenting style score quartile after adjustment for age and gender. Full adjustment for covariates partially explained this association (HR = 1.49, 95% CI 1.02–2.18). Parenting style was inversely associated with cancer and other mortality, but not cardiovascular mortality. Maternal and paternal parenting styles were individually associated with mortality.

Experiences of suboptimal parenting in childhood are associated with increased risk of death at older ages.

Depression has been associated with increased all-cause mortality in people with type 2 diabetes.

To test whether anhedonia, dysphoria and anxiety are differentially associated with all-cause mortality and examine symptom-specific behavioural or pathophysiological mechanisms.

A total of 1465 people completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale in 2005 and were followed until death or 31 December 2010. Cox regression analyses compared survival time for people with a low v. high baseline dysphoria/anhedonia/anxiety score and identified mediating mechanisms.

After a mean follow-up of 1878 days (s.d. = 306), 139 participants had died. At all time points, people with anhedonia had an almost twofold increased mortality risk compared with those without anhedonia. Physical activity met criteria for mediation. Symptoms of dysphoria and anxiety were not associated with survival time.

Symptoms of anhedonia predicted shorter survival time, whereas dysphoria/anxiety did not. Mechanistic pathways, in particular physical activity, should be explored further.

The National Psychiatric Morbidity Surveys include English cross-sectional household samples surveyed in 1993, 2000 and 2007.

To evaluate frequency of common mental disorders (CMDs), service contact and treatment.

Common mental disorders were identified with the Clinical Interview Schedule – Revised (CIS-R). Service contact and treatment were established in structured interviews.

There were 8615, 6126 and 5385 participants aged 16–64. Prevalence of CMDs was consistent (1993: 14.3%; 2000: 16.0%; 2007: 16.0%), as was past-year primary care physician contact for psychological problems (1993: 11.3%; 2000: 12.0%; 2007: 11.7%). Antidepressant receipt in people with CMDs more than doubled between 1993 (5.7%) and 2000 (14.5%), with little further increase by 2007 (15.9%). Psychological treatments increased in successive surveys. Many with CMDs received no treatment.

Reduction in prevalence did not follow increased treatment uptake, and may require universal public health measures together with individual pharmacological, psychological and computer-based interventions.

Individual variables and area-level variables have been identified as explaining much of the variance in rates of compulsory in-patient treatment.

To describe rates of voluntary and compulsory psychiatric in-patient treatment in rural and urban settings in England, and to explore the associations with age, ethnicity and deprivation.

Secondary analysis of 2010/11 data from the Mental Health Minimum Dataset.

Areas with higher levels of deprivation had increased rates of in-patient treatment. Areas with high proportions of adults aged 20–39 years had the highest rates of compulsory in-patient treatment as well as the lowest rates of voluntary in-patient treatment. Urban settings had higher rates of compulsory in-patient treatment and ethnic density was associated with compulsory treatment in these areas. After adjusting for age, deprivation and urban/rural setting, the association between ethnicity and compulsory treatment was not statistically significant.

Age structure of the adult population and ethnic density along with higher levels of deprivation can account for the markedly higher rates of compulsory in-patient treatment in urban areas.

The assessment of ‘general health and well-being’ in public mental health research stimulates debates around relative merits of questionnaire instruments and their items. Little evidence regarding alignment or differential advantages of instruments or items has appeared to date.

Population-based psychometric study of items employed in public mental health narratives.

Multidimensional item response theory was applied to General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) and EQ-5D items (Health Survey for England, 2010–2012; n = 19 290).

A bifactor model provided the best account of the data and showed that the GHQ-12 and WEMWBS items assess mainly the same construct. Only one item of the EQ-5D showed relevant overlap with this dimension (anxiety/depression). Findings were corroborated by comparisons with alternative models and cross-validation analyses.

The consequences of this lack of differentiation (GHQ-12 v. WEMWBS) for mental health and well-being narratives deserves discussion to enrich debates on priorities in public mental health and its assessment.